Chapter Eight
Back at the Hotel...
Nicky looked up at them when they entered the security room. “I hope that went well?” He looked over at Serenity.
She smiled and went over to hug him. “It did.”
He studied her face. “Are you tired? I think maybe you should take a nap.”
She sighed and opened her mouth to argue.
He pressed his fingers to her lips. “The battle won’t start yet and you will have plenty of time to funnel her money out, babe.
” Nicky could see it would be up to her.
He had never forced her to do anything since the day he met her.
Looking over at Sergi, he said, “Seems this LaDonna woman has men from the Shadows of Hell MC working for her. I suppose they hired on after the Rinc brothers were dead.”
“I thought she didn’t want anything to do with them?” Pride asked.
“Having their men seems to fit her needs,” Nicky said.
“It might make her feel good too,” Candyman concluded. “Knowing she has her brother’s men. Must feel like a victory.”
“I can only imagine how superior she has felt.” Sergi growled. “She has been blackmailing some dangerous men. Collecting money under our name for a decade.”
“She made plenty too,” Serenity commented. “I’m not done counting it all yet.”
“We got some satellite photos of her place and it is built like a compound,” Nicky told them.
“Yeah, it would be,” Sergi scoffed in disgust. “We have found her and now it is time to plan how to take them down.”
Pride growled as he looked eager. “Me and my men can go with you all and fight next to you.”
Yuri placed his hands behind his back and explained as best as he could, “Mr. Pride, we already have teams on their way to her compound. There is no reason to risk your men.”
“And how do you know that your men will succeed?” Pride asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Because they are trained to operate without even being seen,” a voice answered.
At the voice, Pride turned to look at the doorway.
A tall, wide shouldered man came into the room. He had short jet black hair and a hard planed face. His eyes were the color of blue ice. “My team does this type of thing, nearly every week. This is their job.”
Pride stared at him. “I met you before, right?” He then looked over at Kirill.
Krill gave him a firm nod.
“When we had to bring in those evil Rinc brothers, yes,” Viktor replied.
“Viktor’s men are an extension of the Bratva,” Sergi told Pride. “Our legion in arms, you might call them. Since this woman and her men threatened our place in New Orleans, we will utilize all our resources. Which are vast and deadly, I might add.”
“Well damn, I was hoping to get in on the fight.” Pride sighed.
Pride’s men all nodded in agreement.
Kirill shook his head at him.
“What?” Pride griped. “Come on, don’t tell me that isn’t part of why you love your job?”
Kirill looked at him then glanced at his two brothers, Kosta and Felix.
They grinned at him.
“Ok,” Kirill had to finally concede his point. “But I have to agree with Yuri and Sergi. We usually have Viktor’s men handle this kind of thing. They are Bratva’s finest ops team.”
Pride clearly looked disappointed to not be allowed into the fray. He headed over to a chair and sat down to pout.
Candyman and Cosmos smirked at him as they shook their heads.
Yuri, Sergi and Viktor set up plans for the takedown as everyone else listened.
Kosta called out to them, “We got images from the Ghosts.”
“Ghosts?” Pride asked.
“Yes,” Viktor replied. “We do not talk about them.”
Pride stared at him then looked around at everyone to see if he was kidding or not.
Sergi chuckled. “They are like ghosts in the fact that you never see them.”
Pride looked confused. “Like the CIA? Or Black Ops?”
No one answered.
Pride rolled his eyes. “Fine, keep your Russian secrets then.”
Nicky and Serenity both chuckled at his dramatics as did his own men.
Kosta signaled that he had visuals.
The entire group all gathered and watched the two monitors, showing the front and the back of the compound.
“Damn, she spent a lot of the faction’s money on this,” Nicky commented.
“Just a half a million,” Serenity said. “She bought it five years ago. If she had purchased it today, it would be a couple of million I think?”
“Wow, how much has she made of this scam?” Pride asked.
Serenity looked at her screen and raised her brows as she said, “As far as I have found...Three point five.”
“What?” Pride and Kirill exclaimed.
Nodding, she looked back at her screen. “Three and a half million. But there might be other things she invested in that have made her even more than that.”
“Like what?” Pride asked.
Nicky piped up, “Drug running, trafficking, and gun running to Central America. Maybe a few stocks in fentanyl. You know, the usual slimeball, criminal stuff.”
“Damn, she really wanted to show her brothers up, didn’t she?” Kirill commented.
“And so far, she has done just that.” Serenity nodded.
“Like I said before. She is calculating. She planned this over time. It took her ten years to set it up and implement this. Then she has cashed in on it for ten years already. It takes an evil kind of mind to be that patient in planning something so large. Now, she has a virtual empire. She outdid her entire family in that regard.”
Raven, Anita and Boo had come in with refreshments and some snacks.
Kirill went over to Boo and hugged her. “How’s Andros doing?”
“Playing with his cousins.” She smiled. “I heard what Serenity said. How’s the war?”
“It should happen in a couple of hours,” Kirill told her
“The Enforcers?” she asked him as she looked over at Viktor.
“You know it.” He nodded.
Boo then looked over at Serenity and said, “I can’t say it surprises me about LaDonna.
That woman stepped right out of a child’s nightmare when she was barely twenty.
When I was four, her personality and vibe was like Cruella DeVille.
I believed she could kill puppies. Only LaDonna was willing to kill humans too.
” Boo shivered. “Her father and mother gave birth to her, but their actions also created a monster.”